


House of Cards

by LostInTranslation (theonemaye)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anal Fingering, Blow Jobs, Drama & Romance, Hand Jobs, Heavily implied sheith feelings, Keith is just Keith, M/M, No one is a teen, No one is a virgin, Past Relationship - Sheith, Pining Lance (Voltron), Porn With Plot, Spoilers S3, Though is tagged klance for a reason, please read the tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-21
Updated: 2017-09-21
Packaged: 2019-01-03 20:52:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12154557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theonemaye/pseuds/LostInTranslation
Summary: After Shiro’s disappearance and the change of pilots on Team Voltron, Lance and Keith start a sort of relationship. Problem strikes when they realize “sort of” doesn’t mean “simple”.





	House of Cards

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Castillo de Naipes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11902353) by [theonemaye](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theonemaye/pseuds/theonemaye). 



> English is not my native, but I love VLD and believe me, I'm _trying_. Enjoy!

If there was anything Lance hated the most throughout the whole galaxy, it was not being able to sleep.

His beauty sleep was, in his opinion, the key to his success with girls, aliens, and any other attractive life forms scattered across the universe. He was the handsome one of the group, the most gallant of all the Voltron paladins and the sharpest shooter in the whole quadrant... But he couldn’t be any of those things if he wasn’t even able to fall asleep.

However, it wasn’t just insomnia what... well, what kept him awake. It was something else. One thing he couldn’t get out of his head, not even by playing on Pidge's _Mercury Gameflux II_! Allura's words before Lance got to pilot the Red Lion for the first time; words that now played in a loop inside his head.

“ _When you accepted Keith as the new leader of Voltron, it proved that you value a strong team over your own need for glory. Just like my father_.”

When the altean said it, the thing sounded so logical Lance didn’t think about it again. But after the mission’s adrenaline rush wore off, lying on his bed and hearing nothing in the world but silence, the meaning behind Allura's words seemed quite different to him.

Okay, Lance had accepted Keith as his leader when the Black Lion took him as its new paladin all right. According to Allura, doing so also meant having to change lions, for Keith's lion -  _his_ lion, as he had to remind himself every few doboshes - turned out to be the right hand of Voltron’s leader.

And all that could have been very nice and appropriate, except for the flutter in his stomach whenever he thought of being Keith's right hand.

Say, yes, he and Keith had been grinding out rough edges ever since Zarkon pursued Voltron like a madman all across the universe. Few things get you closer to someone than a half-naked climb through a broken elevator’s pit. Even so, the two of them weren’t _that_ close to one other. Not like Shiro and Keith were, at least.

So this got Lance thinking: did the Red Lion accept Lance as a paladin because he accepted Keith as his leader? Or rather, did Lance's wishes - of Keith accepting him as some kind of support - have anything to do with it?

Lance could be ignorant of what was going on around him, like that one time Pidge turned out to be a girl, and he was the last of the castle’s inhabitants to find out. Nevertheless, that didn’t mean he was ignorant of what went on inside himself.

Lance knew himself as nobody else could, had been walking in his shoes his entire life. Thus, when something inside him started taking strange paths, Lance noticed it as soon as he could be alone with his thoughts. As in that very moment.

Truth be told, the odd sensations on the ‘Keith’ department were nothing new. Ever since Keith and Shiro got themselves into the Blade of Marmora’s headquarters and discovered Keith’s galra heritage, Lance had found himself trying to have a moment alone with the guy, to offer him his support and understanding. Something Lance never got to do, by the way.

With no rhyme or reason, Lance became a bit obsessed with the idea of turning into Keith’s moral support in such confusing times. To be, for once, worthy of that honest and open beam the former red paladin directed only to his hero, Takashi Shirogane.

Certainly, Lance didn’t allow himself to have high hopes about the matter. He and Keith had been rivals back in the Garrison, after all - although the other one claimed not to remember. He knew the odds for he and Keith to become the closest of people were as far away as that Wozblay planet Coran always babbled about.

Or so they were before he became his official right-hand paladin inside team Voltron.

Being Keith’s second-in-command gave Lance the opportunity he'd been unknowingly waiting for so long. He could support Keith as much as he wanted; Just as much as he craved to do since who’d knew how many weeks ago. Be there for him as a friend. Or, perhaps, as _more_ than a friend...

"Oh, quiznak!” Lance's surprised cry echoed throughout his room, as did the sound of his palm hitting his forehead. He rose from the bed with a jolt. "Do I like Keith _that way_!?"

***

Keith hated insomnia. He hated it immensely. But he had it so often than hatred was soon becoming nothing more than a hateful routine.

The reason he wasn’t able to sleep: his life’s recent events. Keith had just become team Voltron’s new leader against his wishes. The Black Lion chose him as his paladin, as Shiro had predicted long ago. And everything could have been a great honor and all… had it come to happen in different circumstances.

He hadn’t earned the team’s leadership due to his skills or aptitudes. He got it because Shiro disappeared into thin air during the big fight against Zarkon. Whether Keith wanted it or not, and even as he firmly believed he wasn’t capable of living up to it. If someone asked Keith, he’d say having him as Voltron's new leader was the worst thing that could have happened to the team.

Too short after his choosing, Lotor decided to attack the castle. Now Lance was the red paladin, Allura was the blue one and Keith was the black one. As if adapting to their previous lions - and no lion whatsoever, in Allura's case - wouldn’t have been complicated enough the first time.

And they couldn’t even form Voltron! At least when Shiro was there, the first fight against the Galra Empire ended up with them forming the giant robot, though it probably was by mere chance.

To Keith, Shiro’s great leadership was the most important reason for the team’s success. But Shiro was gone now, leaving Keith with a too big responsibility weighing on his shoulders. So big, he wasn’t sure he could carry it out without hurting some of his teammates in the process.

On the other hand, another reason to Keith’s insomnia was Shiro’s disappearance. Something Keith wasn’t able to stop thinking about.

After the battle against Zarkon, Keith swept the quadrant for vargas on end in search of some clue on Shiro’s whereabouts. Something told him the man was still alive, a feeling Keith couldn’t quite explain. But every passing tick was one tick farther from the possibility of finding him. With each dobosh, Keith felt a dobosh closer to never getting Shiro back.

Either way, whether alive or not, Shiro's current state was “missing in action”. Which left Keith with the responsibility to keep the mission going, to defeat the Galra Empire and to defend the universe... How the _hell_ was he supposed to do all that?

A metallic sound brought him out of his introspection. Someone was knocking at his door.

Without waiting for a response, the sliding door opened. Keith's room was completely dark, but the light from the corridor revealed the unmistakable silhouette of Lance standing in the doorway.

“You awake, team leader?" Lance asked, leaning half-way through the door. Keith rolled his eyes, but he motioned for Lace to enter.

Lance got in and the door closed behind him. The place was in shadows; the only illumination source coming from the bright lights of the hallway sneaking through the door’s slits. However, neither of them made an effort to turn the lights on.

The castle’s sleeping quarters were virtually identical to one other, thus Keith wasn’t surprised when Lance made his way to the bed so quickly. Lance sat on the edge of the mattress and Keith sat up, his legs stretched out behind Lance and his torso turned towards the guy.

A couple doboshes passed without Lance uttering a word, something Keith never thought he was able to accomplish. If something characterized the former blue paladin was his inability to shut up.

"So... did you come to see me sleep?" Keith ventured, in an attempt to break the other's unusual silence.

Lance didn’t reply. He shifted on the spot instead, visibly uncomfortable. Something was up, that much Keith was completely sure of. What if not could possibly bring Lance to his dorm in the middle of the castle's sleeping cycle?

"Lance, for real, you're scaring me," Keith blurted out after another mute dobosh. “Is something wrong? You okay? Is there anything I need to know?”

As if on a queue, Lance finally came out of his trance. He turned to face Keith, his face only inches from Keith’s. Keith wanted to tell him to back off a bit, but he held back the urge. _This nonsense must have an explanation_ , Keith thought. Lance usually wasn’t like this with him.

"Sorry for this," Lance said at last, "please don’t hit me.”

Keith frowned in confusion.

"And why exactly would I want to hit—?"

Before he could finish the sentence, Keith knew exactly what Lance meant with the “don’t hit me” request.

Lance took Keith by surprise, grabbing the front of his t-shirt and pulling him into a kiss. An awkward, passionate, and very much _stolen_ kiss. One Keith started to correspond by mere instinct and as a byproduct of his astonishment. Keith just closed his eyes and let himself go.

Lance was a very good kisser, far better than Keith could have possibly imagined. Perhaps all that casanova braggadocio wasn’t so fake after all.

Lance kept on kissing him hard, pulling him close so tight Keith thought Lance would rip his t-shirt’s apart. Keith, on the other hand, settled himself on a kind of autopilot; too exhausted to neither think nor rationalize what was happening. Lance was kissing him, he had burst into his room in the middle of the night just to smooch him senseless. Or, at least, that was what it seemed.

Whatever reason or logic, Keith had zero intention on interrupting what was happening. Lance had started to touch Keith’s skin beneath his t-shirt, nibbling at Keith’s neck and jaw, sending little chills down his spine. If Keith was given a choice between overthinking his sanity away on the Team Leader’s department and to keep on groping his second-in-command, his answer was clear as day.

Keith began undressing Lance, smiling to himself as the other gasped in surprise. He removed Lance's t-shirt and took it off his body, hurrying to resume kissing those lips he didn’t know he needed so much until a few minutes ago.

This time, Keith made sure to take the reins. Allowing Lance to kiss him as he pleased had been satisfying enough, but it was time to be the one in charge. If Lance wanted to get to know that part of Keith so much, he'd better hold on tight.

He used all his dexterity to exchange their positions, kissing Lance so hard the guy didn’t even notice he was now completely on the bed, his back against the wall and Keith straddling his legs.

Keith was rubbing against Lance's crotch, eating his mouth as if there was no tomorrow, and so hard inside his own pajama pants the friction against Lance's abdomen wasn’t nearly enough. Lance panted and moaned without restraint, moving his hips frantically to rub his own erection against Keith’s butt.

Some more doboshes of that and Keith decided it was enough foreplay for the night. He started nibbling on Lance's neck as he ran his hands all the way through his chest, waist, and abdomen, to finally reach the hardness between his legs.

Upon Keith's touch, Lance gasped for air. Keith searched for Lance’s eyes, looking for signs of him crossing some kind of boundary. But all he found on Lance’s face was an unexpected expression of _want_ that sent another electric chill toward Keith’s crotch.

Lance looked up at him through his eyelids; his lips parted, pupils dilated, and something like a plea all over his features. _Got damn!_ That idiot was a too attractive sight for someone in his position. So much so, Keith couldn’t hold back the urge to reclaim his mouth once again.

Keith kissed him while working on the zipper of Lance’s jeans, making a one-handed way to the man's dick underneath him.

“F-uck!” Lance panted when Keith gave him a test stroke, causing Keith to smile unintentionally.

Keith nibbled on Lance's exposed neck, leaving a saliva trail in his path. He managed to free his own dick from the prison of his pajama bottoms and settled himself in a way his hips aligned with Lance's. Keith took both erections in one hand and began to move, keeping himself in balance thanks to the strength of his legs and his free hand against the wall.

By then, Lance just gasped and whined, speaking broken words from time to time that decidedly weren’t suitable for all audiences. Keith kept on setting the rhythm his dick demanded, rising and falling, rubbing his ass against Lance's thighs, and wondering how _the fuck_ had he spent so much time sleeping this near to Lance without doing anything more than fighting for stupid things like the last piece of space toast.

After another rather wet and messy kiss, Lance's hand joined Keith’s around their erections. Keith could feel the heat of the other man all over his dick, enough to feel a familiar tension down his balls. He was _close_ and judging from the sounds coming out of Lance’s dirty mouth, he shouldn’t be that far away himself.

So Keith sped things up a bit. He stopped clinging to the wall and took Lance by the back of his head, wrapping his hands in his silky brown hair with enough force to make him look into his eyes. Lance looked at him with a mixture of fear and excitement, waiting to know what the hell he was he going to do next.

Keith slammed his lips against Lance's, making sure he was harsh enough to leave at least a reddish mark that would be noticeable in the morning. At the same time, and due to the loss of support, his movements against Lance's thighs and cock became frantic, practically imprisoning Lance’s erection between Keith’s dick and hand.

A few more ticks and the orgasm hit him abruptly, violent, and completely perfect. He groaned against Lance's neck as he emptied himself all over his belly, feeling the pulsation of hot, soft skin against his own. Lance must have reached his orgasm in sync with Keith, considering his agitated breathing and the amount of semen Keith could feel on his hand.

Keith allowed himself to relax on top of his partner, letting himself fall into his lap, his head still hidden in the hollow of Lance’s neck. If life had taught him something - especially in the last few quintants - it was those moments of quietness were usually scarce, so it was best to take them when they appeared.

Keith let his post-orgasm take him away, to a place where he could almost feel normal again. Until some movement beneath him drew him out of his drowsiness.

"Don’t know if anyone’s told you this, but you're heavier than you look."

Keith laughed at the comment, hurrying to get off Lance’s lap. While Lance shifted his legs one by one to restart the blood flow, Keith got out of bed. He fumbled for a dirty t-shirt to clean up the evidence of their previous activities, put on some clean pajama pants and got back to Lance, to whom he threw the shirt of shame and a pair of beach shorts that should be about his size.

"I don’t have any clean pajamas, sorry," Keith apologized, leaning back to the bed. Lance just smiled at him, dismissing the apology.

Lance got up from the bed and Keith watched him get clean and change clothes. Objectively, Lance's body was something worthy to be observed. All lines and lean, defined edges; his abdomen’s muscles very fit and just enough body hair to give his belly a manly touch. If Keith hadn’t been so exhausted, he could have asked for a second round.

Lance finished changing clothes and got back to bed, with the obvious intention of staying a bit longer. Keith made some room for him and the two of them settled down the best they could on the too small mattress. It was nice to be like this, not talking, just enjoying each other's company. There was something in Lance’s presence that made Keith feel calmer; tricking his brain into think everything could work out, even though Keith knew many things were almost destined to fail.

Keith’s eyelids started to feel heavy. He was on his side, so his chest was in contact with Lance's back. He breathed in the distinctive smell of the man in front of him: damp earth and something musky he couldn’t quite identify. Keith closed his eyes, letting himself be overcome by exhaustion. And before he knew it, he was fast asleep.

***

The next morning, Keith woke up to an empty bed.

Lance had managed to sneak out of Keith’s dorm sometime during the castle’s sleeping cycle, taking with him all evidence of having been there in the first place.

When Keith left his room, it was still early enough for no one else to be hanging around the castle’s common areas. That was okay with him. Keith liked his solitary time, and if he could have some vargas of quietness - to think about the team leader issue and what had happened the night before - even better.

He was all suited up and on his way to the training deck when something caught his eye. The small panel on the wrist of his suit was flickering, indicating coordinates fairly close to the castle’s current location.

Keith’s heart almost stopped. He couldn’t believe his rather impulsive plan was paying off!

During their last battle against Lotor, Keith managed to place a tracker on the enemy ship without his teammates noticing. Clearly, Lotor was stupid enough not to have noticed the tracker either, and now he was within the range of Keith’s little tracking device.

Without a second thought, Keith turned around and ran toward the Black Lion’s bay. He climbed inside his lion and felt that strong connection he had wanted to deny in the past, but that now sent pulses of adrenaline to every corner of his body. He would catch Lotor, the heir of the Galra Empire, and end Zarkon's reign of terror once and for all.

With some luck, he would also be able to find a clue about Shiro's current situation. If Zarkon’s followers had found a way to take Shiro prisoner, surely Lotor would know everything about it.

Keith hung on to that thought, convincing himself that what he was about to do was the only way to fulfill his mission as Voltron's new leader. He couldn’t afford to hesitate, even if his teammates questioned him. They wanted Keith to lead them? Well, this was how he led.

***

Keith’s mission to "defeat Lotor while he’s unprepared" turned out to be more of a "let's try to get out of this hella weird planet in one piece, and let’s put several light years between Zarkon’s crazy offspring and our butts." If Allura hadn’t gained control of the Blue Lion and used the sonar to find them all, they would surely still be circling through that annoying flammable mist.

In the end, Keith stopped acting like a dickhead and they were able to form Voltron to get out of the dilemma. But even then, Lance was quite sure the guy would go full sulky mode through the next spicolian movement - like a toddler, in Lance’s opinion - for putting them all in such a predicament.

Meanwhile, Lance was having trouble to sleep again. Something inside him kept prompting him to go check on Keith, to take his chance at showing just how good a right hand he could be. It was a strange, almost mystical sensation, like that lunaticaly magical connection each paladin had with his own lion. It wasn’t like Lance _wanted_ to go check on Keith to get him out of his sulk, but like he _felt_ it was his duty.

However, every time Lance thought of getting out of his bed, an image of Keith rubbing on Lance’s crotch filled his mind. That night the unthinkable had happened, with Lance merely trying to test his “I’m attracted to Keith” theory with a little kiss and getting a full, rough, out of this world mutual handjob instead.

Lance managed to escape Keith's grip in the middle of the castle’s sleeping cycle. And with everything that happened, from the impromptu mission to the foggy planet and Lotor toying with them like ping-pong balls, he hadn’t even had a chance to stop and think about what happened between him and his first-in-command.

That had been... what, exactly? If he used his head, the most logical thing to do was to label it as a one-night stand. But, what if he used something other than his reason? What if his blood pump refused to accept _the thing_ as just a one-time event?

“Don’t!” said Lance to the void. There was no reason to think that a session of spontaneous groping with his team leader - which turned out to be quiznaking _Keith_ , no less - would mean something different from what was in sight. And even more so considering neither of them specified the contract’s terms before starting to get all touchy on the black paladin’s bed.

"It was a one-time thing, Lance," he said aloud. “Once and no more. So stop acting like a teenager and go convince Keith to get his head out of his own ass, dammit!”

Lance sounded surer than he felt, but he decided that had to be enough for the moment. He got out of his bed, made sure he was covered enough not to give a mixed message and strode through the hallway towards Keith's sleeping quarters.

He knocked a couple of times and entered without waiting for a reply, to prevent Keith from sending him fry arusian tubers. As before, Keith's dorm was darkened, but Lance didn’t let it intimidate him. In fact, maybe the darkness would prove convenient, functioning as a prop in Lance’s quest to draw the King of Hermeticism away from his cocoon.

Lance went to the bed and sat at Keith's feet, noticing a deja vu feeling he managed to ignore.

"How’s it going, team leader?" He asked, trying to sound casual and unconcerned. “Everything okay back in self-pity town?

Keith made a rude gesture in his general direction, which Lance decided to ignore for the sake of his mission. He raised his hands as a sign of truce.

“All right, all right. I'm sorry, boss. Just wanted to break the ice.”

"I'm not your boss," Keith replied immediately. “I don’t even think I deserve to be called a team leader.”

Lance made a face.

“Far as I know, Voltron’s leader is the Black Lion’s paladin. And the last time I checked, your pretty little ass was atop its pilot seat.”

"You think my ass is pretty?"

Lance's next sentence caught up inside his throat. _Nice selection of words, you doofus!_

Keith laughed at his reaction, and Lance had to make a great effort not to smile like a fool. He enjoyed making Keith rage as much as Hunk enjoyed baking cakes, but since Shiro disappeared, seeing him laugh was a real rarity.

"My point is," he continued, regaining control of the conversation, “you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself because of what happened with Lotor. I reckon you probably are self-pity town’s Mayor by now, but you don’t need to stay there. There’s been barely a week since you became the leader; nobody is perfect, man.”

Keith's laughter ceased and Lance almost wished he hadn’t said what he had just said.

"Shiro never had that problem," Keith said quietly. “He was the perfect leader.”

"Yeah..." Lance settled more comfortably on the bed, turning his body around to face Keith. “But you're not Shiro.”

"Maybe that's the whole problem," Keith said in a low voice. “I'm not Shiro and I never will be.”

"No," Lance agreed, shaking his head to emphasize. “But you are Keith and the Black Lion chose you specifically. And unless you think millennia are taking their toll on that big ass mechanical cat, the best thing you can do is to trust its judgment.”

Lance moved his head to meet Keith’s gaze. He smiled at him and got a half-smile in return. Tiny, almost imperceptible, but visible enough for Lance to know his words had had the expected effect.

They stayed like that for a moment, until it seemed it was time for Lance to go to his own room. He was about to rise to his feet when Keith's voice pierced through the darkness again.

"Did you really come here just to give me a pep talk?"

Something in Keith's voice suggested he wasn’t saying everything he wanted to say, but there was also the possibility that Lance was imagining things. He turned back to Keith.

“Well, of course!” He exclaimed. “Now that I'm your right hand, it's my job to keep you happy.”

"And that’s what the other night was about?" Keith asked suddenly. “Were you trying to make me happy?”

Lance's mind went blank at that. _Quiznak, quiznak and more quiznak!_ He should have known better. Lance simply should have known he wouldn’t get away from his little slip so easily. God damn his crazy hormones and thirst for self-discovery!

The reigning obscurity made it difficult to determine if Keith's expression was that of someone who is about to tell off - or beat up - someone else. Or if, on the contrary, the guy was just trying to mortify Lance for what had happened. Whatever it was, the most alarming thing about it was that his brain seemed to have started a strike.

"I-I'm really sorry, man… like, for real," Lance managed to say after a few ticks. “I don’t know what happened to me, and I... I just wanted... I didn’t mean to...”

"What?" Keith asked. “To cum all over my stomach?”

"Oh, my god..." Lance mumbled, covering his face with his hands and feeling like a complete idiot.

What the _hell_ was wrong with him? Keith wasn’t close to being the first person Lance had ever touched that way. Quiznak! He didn’t even was the first alien Lance had smooched three ways to sunset. But there Lance was, with his head full of hot air and not knowing what else to do but apologize and covering up his face.

Suddenly, Keith’s laughter flooded the room again. The guy laughed heartily, and Lance had the unpleasant feeling he was doing it at his expense.

Lance felt strong hands pull on his own to remove them from his face, and found himself staring again at those incredible purple-gray eyes Lance very much hated to admit he liked. Keith no longer laughed, but a smug smile adorned his lips.

"I didn’t bring that back to get an apology," Keith said in a low, suggestive tone. “I did it in the hopes of getting a repetition.”

Lance didn’t get to know what his brain could have done with such a statement. By the time he realized the meaning behind it, his lips, hands and pretty much all of his senses were completely full of Keith.

Keith kissed him with an almost magnetic energy, clutching at his waist as if Lance could float away at any given moment. Doboshes passed by, in which both their clothes were considered a liability. In the end, it was just the two of them butt-ass naked over the bed sheets, with Keith under Lance and their cocks aligned once more.

It was somewhat surprising the way their bodies fitted almost perfectly, as two jigsaw pieces made expressly for that purpose. This time around, Lance took control of the encounter, nibbling, kissing, and licking Keith's body to the rhythm imposed by his own need. One of Lance’s hands grabbed their erections while the other imprisoned Keith's wrists over his head.

Lance moved his hips up and down for friction, and Keith was no slouch in that department either. In a very short time, they managed to settle a satisfactory tempo for both of them, which drew sensual sounds from the mouth of the gorgeous man trapped between Lance and the bed. The pre-seminal fluid lubricated his movements more and more, with which Lance was able to perform several of his manual pirouettes that won him so many praises from lots of occasional lovers.

He began by bringing his hand to the head of both their dicks, forming a kind of circle between the thumb, index and middle fingers. It wasn’t long before he got the perfect rotation angle to work the glands, occasionally using his thumb to rub on the sensitive opening at the tip.

Keith rubbed more and more against him, responding to Lance's expert moves with soft hisses and broken curses. Lance smiled to himself, enjoying the beautiful sight, the perfect man between his legs, and the fact that he was the reason for such reactions.

Probably motivated by the whole set of stimuli, Lance felt his orgasm form and explode with very few ticks of difference. The climax took him off guard, his face buried in Keith's neck and his hand clutching the head of his cock. It was just until the initial wave passed than Lance realized two important things: the first, that he had dug his teeth into his lover's shoulder, barely noticing what he was doing at the time; And the second, that Keith's cock was still as awake as it was when Lance started wanking them both.

Keith was breathing hard and Lance risked moving to look at him. His face wore a dangerous smile, one that promised to do unpleasant things to Lance if he didn’t hurry and do something about the stiff shaft between his legs.

Lance let go of Keith's wrists and gave him a kiss he intended to pass as a silent apology. Keith responded by biting at Lance’s lips so hard it would surely be noticeable in the morning. Several ticks passed by, in which tongues and saliva were the main protagonists. But Lance broke the kiss eventually, getting down all over Keith's body until he was face to face with his crotch.

It had been more than a few phoebs since the last time Lance had performed a blowjob. However, as an old high school friend used to say, "Sexual expertise is like riding a bike: if you were good at it once, you’re probably gonna be for the rest of your life." Lance focused on that thought, and without too much meditation, he shoved Keith's cock into his mouth as far as he managed.

The dick in question felt hard and hot against his palate; the salty aftertaste of the pre-seminal fluid mingled with something Lance recognized as his own cum. That didn’t matter to him, tough, and he committed himself to work the cock in his mouth as if the survival of the human race depended on it.

Lance sucked, licked, and savored everything he could, making sure he used the right amount of teeth and not sparing on saliva. On his end of things, Keith was thoroughly undone over the bed sheets. Nothing coherent came out of his mouth, and his hands were so firmly entangled in Lance's short hair that he was sure he’d be bald in some places once they were done.

The red paladin imposed a frenetic pace that, although somewhat uncomfortable for him, was the best way to accelerate his lover’s release. It wasn’t long before Keith moved his hips in unison with Lance’s mouth, and after a few ticks, Keith’s hot cum slipped into Lance’s throat.

Lance could have sworn Keith said his name at the end, but he was so focused on controlling his own gag reflex at the time that it was hard to be certain. Name or not name, Lance made sure to suck every drop of Keith's cum, until his owner gently pushed him away from the too sensitive skin.

Keith kissed him passionately, drawing Lance into himself as if even after what they had just done, he still didn’t have enough of the guy. Lance let himself be kissed, realizing too late the "thank you" for his epic blowjob was to stain his torso with the same goop of semen and saliva covering Keith's belly.

"Ugh! I knew that after-kiss was suspicious," he complained. Keith laughed, evidently proud of his work.

Lance stretched out on the bed until he reached one of their discarded t-shirts on the floor. He really hoped it was Keith's - just to get even for the after-kiss fiasco -, but it was too dark to know. He cleaned himself as best as he could and passed it over to Keith, so he could clean himself too. Once clean, Keith discarded the shirt tossing it through the air and to the other end of the room, which made Lance laugh himself silly.

In truth, Lance felt completely exhausted. The mission against Lotor, the planet with the explosive fog, to form Voltron, and to blow up a damn Galra cruiser. And on top of all that, an incredible sex session with his team leader!

Lance remembered the previous time, as he had to collect all his will to not fall asleep before Keith and thus be able to sneak to his own dorm. But this time was different; Lance was way too tired and if he waited as much as a couple of doboshes, he risked falling asleep.

So he decided to bite the bullet and get out of Keith’s bed, get dressed, and go sleeping on his very own bed. But as soon as Lance started to rise, Keith called out to him, pulling him by the arm.

"And what the hell do you think you're doing?" Keith's dull voice asked from the shadows.

"Was gonna look for my clothes to go to my quarters," he said in a whisper, which was ridiculous as they were the only ones in the room and the metal walls of the castle were noise-proof. “I’m very tired from the day and if I wait for another tick I’ll fall asleep over you.”

Keith let out a grunting sound. Then Lance was drawn completely to bed, Keith's arms and legs tightly clutched around his body.

"The fuck you are! You're not leaving tonight," Keith said in his ear, with a somewhat authoritative voice tone. “The other night I woke up with an erection and no one here to rut against because little miss sunshine decided it was a good idea to sneak out early.” Keith managed to cover them both with a bed sheet as he spoke, not losing a single bit of ground on Lance's body. “So get used to no sleeping alone, because you’ll be doing it fairly often.”

Lance couldn’t help but grin, letting himself be dragged by tiredness as he settled into Keith's arms and legs.

***

“Lance? Keith?” Allura's voice echoed through the castle's central intercom. “Does anyone know the whereabouts of those two?”

Lance couldn’t stop the laughter that came out of him. Which then turned into a filthy moan.

They were in the Black Lion's Bay, shielded from curious eyes by the huge wings of the robotic feline. Lance was standing with his jeans half-thigh and his back against the lion. Keith was on his knees in front of him, devouring his cock as if he wanted to root it out.

That was his life since the second night of great sex with his team leader. Finding more and more creative places to hide and rub against each other. Pressing their luck by having almost-public sex in a floating castle full of nosy paladins and gossipy alteans. Keith seemed unable to take his hands off him and Lance felt the same way. Like two rabbits in the middle of spring. Two very handsome rabbits.

"Fuck, babe! Right there..." Lance put his fist into his mouth to prevent the sounds from echoing in the immense room. Meanwhile, Keith worked on Lance’s erection with almost too much enthusiasm.

Lance’s free hand lay entangled in Keith's jet-black hair, but more than to guide him, it was a sort of way not to fall to his knees every time Keith did _that quiznaking awesome thing_ with his tongue. In Keith's own words, Lance pulling at his hair when he gave him head didn’t bother him at all. But the current blowjob was so fucking satisfying he couldn’t see the point in taking the reins.

The view from the top was also wonderful. Keith's head bobbing over his crotch, his forehead beaded with sweat, and his skin flushed by the effort. Keith kept his eyes closed, as per usual when giving Lance head. Maybe in concentration, or perhaps because he liked it that way. Be as it may, Lance simply couldn’t look away from the man eating the entirety of his cock.

Lance felt a chill run down his spine when a naughty little finger - previously massaging his perineum - pushed its way inside him. He cursed under his breath as he felt Keith's finger describe mild twists in and out of his asshole, whilst Keith’s mouth worked Lance’s glans as if it was a viciously sweet lollipop.

Another finger joined the first, and Lance almost choked in the middle of a gasp. Too long since the last time a lover put his fingers up his ass. So much so, as to forget how pleasant it was - although it also felt kinda funny. Keith was smirking - the little fucker! Which honestly seemed a little out of place for someone with a mouthful of dick.

A couple more twists on Lance's insides made his knees almost buckle. Lance miraculously held his stance, closing his eyes tightly and letting the orgasm hit him with all its force.

Several ticks went by before Lance felt calmer enough to open up his eyes. Though what he saw might very well have made him cum again.

Keith was on his knees on the floor, eyes shut tight, mouth half-opened, and head resting against Lance's thigh. His face was splattered with cum -Lance’s fucking cum! - composing a completely erotic, filthy, porn-worthy scene Lance wasn’t quite prepared for.

Keith had both hands tucked into the open fly of his pants: one frantically jerking him off and the other probably squeezing gently at his balls. It wasn’t long before a strangled cry announced Keith’s orgasm, something always worth seeing, in Lance's opinion.

“Everything all right down there?” Lance asked once he was certain Keith's post-orgasmic spasms had ceased. Keith frowned at him from the spot.

Without so much of a warning, Keith yanked Lance down with such force he lost his balance and fell on his knees in front of him. Keith then pulled him close by the jacket and kissed him hard, the kind of kissing he'd only engage in when their sexual encounter had met his expectations.

When Keith released him, Lance couldn’t help but smile. He felt like flying on a fluffy cloud, much better than he’d ever felt in his entire life. And considering his life included being a paladin of Voltron, that was a very heavy statement.

The last couple of weeks with Keith had proven to be better for Lance than a night on the cryo-pod. He felt invigorated, strong enough as to defeat a galra army with a hand tied behind his back. Regarding Keith, Lance was almost certain the guy was a bit less withdrawn than usual. Even their teammates had started to joke about it. They teased Keith by saying he was probably becoming infected with some of Lance’s silliness. The two of them just smiled at the comments; the others had no idea...

“Hello? Is this thing on? Can anyone get to the lions bay and check if either Keith or Lance is in there?” Allura sounded rather frustrated this time. “Coran! I think the intercom is malfunctioning again!”

To be fair, the girl had every reason to be mad at them. Lance and Keith had been eluding her since breakfast, even though she asked them to join her on the training deck expressly, to test a new ground attack strategy.

Keith rose from the floor, laughing under his breath, and helped Lance to his feet. Lance saw him wipe his face with the underside of his t-shirt, revealing the dreamy abdomen muscles Lance was so fond to caress. His cock lay flaccid outside his zipper and Keith slipped it into his pants unceremoniously.

Lance also adjusted his clothes. If anyone were to, in fact, respond to Allura's request of looking for them in the lions bay, at least they wouldn’t be able to say they caught him with his pants down.

"We should go train with the guys," Keith suggested. Lance couldn’t help but notice his signature white and red jacket barely disguised the semen stains on his black t-shirt. “Allura could have a seizure if we keep ignoring her calls.”

Lance snorted. Did alien folks have seizures?

"Race you to the dorms wing?" He offered.

"Last one is a big plate of green goo," Keith said, sprinting toward the main entrance. Lance let out a smile and hurried to follow.

***

"You guys have seen Keith?"

Hunk and Pidge worked on one of their rare machines to help them find Lotor and the stolen comet. Only Hunk looked up at Lance.

"Last time I saw him was… a couple of vargas ago, I think," he replied, composing a thoughtful gesture as if he was trying to remember. “He said he'd look for Allura to help her with who knows what thingy.”

Lance frowned.

"I was on the bridge just now," he said. “Neither Allura nor Coran have seen him in vargas. According to them, Keith was here giving you two a hand.”

Hunk's eyes widened in surprise.

“Us?” He asked incredulously. “Keith never ever gives Pidge and me a hand when we're fiddling—“

"Ehem, ehem..." Pidge cleared her throat, clearly offended at the insinuation. Hunk frowned.

“Oh, sorry," he apologized. “I meant, when we're _working_ on the castle’s cool equipment. I'm not even sure he knows what we’re trying to do right now.”

Pidge looked up at last. She had a dark grease stain on the cheek, but she didn’t seem to notice.

"Maybe he's just avoiding us," she said, getting up from the floor to go search for something in her toolbox. “You know how he is, all solitary and mysterious. With his whole Steppenwolf kinda vibe and such. I guess he’s spent too many movements being sociable and now he just needs to recharge his batteries or something, y’know. Honestly, I’m surprised it took this long.”

Lance felt something unpleasant knotting in the pit of his stomach, but he did his best to ignore it.

"Pidge is right, bro," Hunk agreed, standing up as well. “Chances are he's out there sulking and downcast, listening to punk music and touching his pretty mullet, ya’know.”

"Yeah," Lance said, somewhat absently. “You're probably right.”

Several doboshes passed by, in which no one mentioned Keith again. Pidge was working on something on a table and Hunk assisted her. Lance simply watched, half lost in his own thoughts and feeling the knot inside his stomach tighten from time to time.

"Well," said Hunk after a while, "I think it's time for a snack, don’t you?"

"I could eat something, yeah," Pidge said. “As long as it isn’t Coran’s doing!”

They both laughed at their joke and headed for the workshop door. They were halfway out the room when Hunk seemed to realize Lance wasn’t following.

"You’re not coming, man?" He asked Lance. Pidge stopped to wait for them. “I won’t let Coran come near my kitchen, promise!”

"I... catch up with you later," Lance said, aiming for a nonchalant voice tone. “I'm not that hungry.”

Pidge's inquisitive gaze made it clear she didn’t buy his lie, but she turned to the door without a word. Hunk just shrugged and smiled at him, then followed Pidge out of the workshop.

After his friends left, Lance walked to the large window at the back of the room. A beautiful view, full of stars, planets, and galaxies extended before his eyes. Things very few humans could even dream to see in their lifetime, much less from a large floating alien castle built ten thousand years ago.

And what was Lance doing instead of marveling at the sights and being thankful for his incredible luck? Feeling like shit because his boyfriend was avoiding him, of course.

To be fair, Keith wasn’t really his boyfriend. Or, at least, between turn-on and turn-on neither of them had worried about giving a label for whatever it was they had. Though how else could someone describe two dudes who hadn’t been apart from each other for more than half a quintant on the last phoeb?

At first, Lance thought about what he and Keith had as something fun and consensual between two responsible young adults. Nonetheless, after some time, their non-relationship went from merely physical to something a bit more complicated than that. Yeah, they still had great sex in unimaginable places, thank you very much. But sometimes they ended up doing things that had nothing to do with hard-ons whatsoever.

They would spend hours and hours talking in the dark of either one of their dorms or sleeping spoon-like style just because neither wanted to sleep alone. Taking a hot shower together after an exhausting mission, only for the sake of cleanliness. Holding hands under the table at mealtime because it felt nice. They even started leaving their clothes in each other's room, just in case something came up in the middle of the night.

No, what they had wasn’t quite casual. And to be completely honest, Lance had been so over the moon by the whole situation than the lack of a label didn’t even ring a bell. It didn’t matter what they were, if they were in it together. With Keith by his side - or below, or above, and sometimes upside-down - the rest of the world simply vanished.

That was before his whatever-the-quiznak-Keith-was started to dodge him.

Initially, it didn’t seem anything serious. As Pidge had just said, it was normal for Keith to want to be alone once in a while. However, Keith’s moments of isolation started to lengthen, and unlike before, Lance wasn’t even invited from time to time.

Keith was blatantly avoiding Lance by now, ignoring every one of his indecent proposals - and even the decent ones. When he wasn’t locked inside his sleeping quarters or hidden from the others, Keith used to pilot the Black Lion around the castle and through the chunk of universe nearby. He even stopped making those naughty nightly visits Lance liked so much, and Lance didn’t dare to make one himself without an invitation, dreading a real rejection from Keith’s part.

So Lance spent all of his time trying not to think about Keith and his sudden lack of interest. Which to be honest was as successful as the time Lance tried to learn the altean language and almost got himself murdered by a hologram.

The weirdest thing of them all and what kept Lance awake at night was that Keith only started treating him differently after the team’s incursion to the alternate reality.

Many strange things happened in that reverse-world, where alteans were villains and Slav wasn’t a complete coward. Although perhaps the weirdest thing was to find an alternate version of Shiro, whose name wasn’t even Shiro. Some dude named Sven, with a rough accent, long hair and no idea of Voltron or the paladins.

At some point in the heat of the battle, the non-Shiro threw himself in front of a blaster to save Lance's life. Something quite weird considering he and Lance hardly even spoke to one another. Maybe Lance had another version in that universe, or non-Shiro enjoyed putting himself in mortal danger. Who knew!

Truth was Lance could swear that, from that moment on, Keith started avoiding him. Which made no sense at all. _Unless…_

Lance shifted uneasily in front of the window, feeling the knot in his stomach evolve into something viscous and multi-legged. The thought that assaulted his mind wasn’t reassuring at all, but it could explain too many of the plot holes in Keith and him's relationship.

That is, obviously Lance imagined that Shiro and Keith were more than besties at some point. Particularly considering Keith had left everything and everyone to follow a hunch, which ended up leading him to find Shiro the exact same day he fell from space. Keith's attitude after Shiro's disappearance could also be a clue to support Lance’s theory, which would have been far less mortifying if Lance hadn’t spent the last month and a half becoming more and more infatuated with space dad's former boyfriend, as they secretly called Shiro when he wasn’t listening.

Could that be what was wrong with Keith? Did seeing non-Shiro saving Lance’s life stir things inside the guy? Was it possible that Keith was simply jealous of Lance?

His head started to pulse after that last thought, which made him realize how ridiculous his deduction was. Keith jealous of Lance because of Shiro? Nonsense!

First, Lance was assuming way too much for his own benefit. Second, it was likely Keith's attitude had nothing to do with Sven or their visit to the bizarre universe. And third - and most important: Who cared if Keith and Shiro were together at some point or not! If they were, well then, they were and that was that. But Keith was with Lance now, whether they had a label or not, and there was no use in denying it.

Lance decided it was too much brain burning for a day. He was being childish, trying to guess instead of growing some nerve and asking Keith himself about his sudden cold shoulder. As Lance’s mom used to say: “Better to fall than to keep hanging”. If Keith had anything to say, he could very well say it. And if it turned out to be nothing at all, then it wouldn’t hurt them to finally have the “What the fuck are we?” conversation.

With that in mind, Lance stilled himself and headed out of Pidge's workshop. He was starting to wonder what would be the best place to start looking for the guy when Allura's voice echoed through the main intercom.

“Paladins, to the bridge. _Now_.”

Lance frowned in protest. What a rude habit the villain folks had, that of attacking at the least opportune moment. Although perhaps meeting on the bridge wasn’t so bad of an idea. If it turned out to be a non-life-or-death thing, that could give him a chance to talk to Keith without having to search the whole castle.

When Lance reached the bridge, Keith wasn’t among their teammates. Instead, he noticed they all had a confused look on their faces. Also, Lance realized the castle was beginning to move. Looking through the main window, Lance immediately recognized Keith's Black Lion. Apparently, the castle wasn't only chasing after the Black Lion but was about to follow the robot through a wormhole.

They got through the portal in a few ticks, attentive to every movement of the Black Lion. In front of it, an insignificant galra fighter floated adrift. Keith and his lion approached the fighter, and the lion's eyes immediately started to glow. The viscous, multi-legged thing inside Lance's stomach went on a spinning spree when Keith's voice rang through all the bridge speakers, saying three words that promised to overturn Lance’s world even more.

“ _We found him_.”

***

Keith woke up with a jolt.

He was sitting on the floor, one leg stretched and the other flexed against his chest, with his back pressed against the wall. He had almost lost his balance by falling asleep with his head on his knee, but he couldn’t help it; He was exhausted.

He had already lost count of how many vargas had passed by since he found Shiro almost dead and wandering through space on a galra fighter. Keith’s lion took the fighter between its jaws, without Keith having anything to do with it, and carried it inside the castle. However, as soon as they helped Shiro out of the tiny ship, the man blacked out.

According to the ship's log, Shiro hadn’t eaten or drank for a full week. Carrying him to a cryo-replenisher immediately was the best thing they could do to keep him alive and help him recover. Keith offered to keep watch in the infirmary to take care of Shiro, although Allura and Coran assured him it wasn’t necessary. The castle was interconnected, whatever happened in the infirmary would be immediately reported to the location of any of the onboard alteans. Nonetheless, leaving Shiro alone after finding him was not even an option for Keith to consider.

Due to Keith’s resolve and since the infirmary wasn’t exactly the best place to stand guard, Allura proposed to install a cryo-pod inside Shiro’s old sleeping quarters. That way, Keith - or any other paladin - could stay and keep guard without having to sit on the castle’s cold floor.

Keith didn’t mind sitting on the castle’s cold floor. Nor did he intend to move away from Shiro.

Keith’s teammates offered to change places several times, so that Keith could get some proper bedtime or at least to eat a decent meal, but he refused. He couldn’t bear the thought of leaving Shiro all alone, even when Allura assured him nothing that happened outside the cryo-pod would be noticed by its occupant. So, in the end, the other paladins settled on going from time to time to give Keith some food, water and to accompany him for a while.

In the moments of solitude, when the guys did other things and no one came to keep him company, Keith spent the doboshes staring at the man in front of him. Shiro was very thin despite being still fit, and his hair was too long for someone who has been lost for less than a couple months. Still, he was very much alive and that was the most important thing of all.

Shiro was alive. As alive as anyone could be inside a suspended animation pod, at least. And Keith didn’t know how to feel about it.

Supposedly, his _thing_ with Shiro - whatever the hell it was - had never been anything but casual. They were both members of the same team, as Shiro constantly reminded him, and having an official relationship would involve too many problems that, right at the moment and with Zarkon at their tail, no one really needed.

Of course they had their moments, especially after Keith discovered his galra heritage. Shiro was Keith’s biggest support when Allura stopped talking to him, the only thing preventing him from taking a pod, his belongings, and finally leaving the castle and the team for good. That's why when Shiro disappeared, Keith felt a great chunk had been ripped from his chest, leading him to search for the man for as many vargas as he could. But it soon became evident Keith wouldn’t be able to find him.

Maybe if Keith had insisted he would have found Shiro at the end. Maybe he shouldn’t have given up so fast. Maybe… No! It was pretty obvious Shiro had somehow been imprisoned by the galra, and to look for him again and again among the wrecks wouldn’t have changed that. The important thing now was Keith had just found him. Alive, in one piece, as Keith had imagined so many times. Well enough to tell him every one of the things Keith felt when he was by his side, all the things he always wanted to voice but didn’t dare saying out of fear of Shiro’s rejection.

Except Keith was with Lance now, and the fact Shiro had just returned from the dead didn’t erase the last phoeb Keith had spent building _something else_ with the red paladin.

Some movement to his left diverted Keith from his troubled thoughts. The cryo-replenisher shone with a white-blue light and opened. Then an almost unconscious Shiro rushed head first to the room’s floor. Keith's reflexes were fast enough as to catch Shiro in the air, holding him halfway between the pod and the unforgivingly hard ground.

"Kei... Keith?" Shiro muttered, his voice raspy and his eyes lost.

“Shhh. Don’t strain yourself," Keith said reassuringly, “it's all right. I’ve got you.”

Shiro still was too weak to walk on his own, so Keith helped him reach his bed. He settled him gently on the mattress, making sure the pillow held his head. None of them said anything for a while.

The room was dark, with the cryo-pod’s glowy-blue lights as the only source of illumination. Even so, Keith was able to discern every feature of Shiro's face.

Keith watched Shiro’s movements attentively: his breathing calming down, the diminishing tension in his muscles, the mild discomfort in his closed eyes. On the other hand, Keith was also too aware of the heat of Shiro’s skin against his own, his chipped, parted lips, and the mighty need Keith had to throw himself on top of the man to protect him from all evil.

After a few doboshes, Shiro coughed and used his elbows to stand up a bit. Keith helped him to a sitting position, with his back against the wall.

"W… ter," he said hoarsely, and Keith hurried to fetch the bottle Hunk let for him at mealtime.

Shiro started drinking from it and Keith’s heart sank at the frantic way Shiro gulped each waterdrop. The veracity of the information in the ship’s log hit him like a brick at that very instant; Shiro had spent a week floating in space, completely alone, without water or food.

Unwittingly, Keith lunged at Shiro to embrace him. To his surprise, the other man hugged him back, and Keith could do nothing but hide his head in the hollow of Shiro’s neck as he had so often done in the past.

"I'm so very happy you're okay," Keith said, shielded by the darkness and their bodies’ position.

Keith felt more than heard Shiro's voice rumble against his own chest. Deep, tired, but still tinged with relief.

"I'm happy too," Shiro said, hugging him even more tightly than before. “Thanks for finding me again.”

Keith snorted, finally pulling away from the embrace.

Shiro looked at him with a mixture of tenderness and paternalism, as he always did when they were alone. Something inside Keith shifted uncomfortably, so he looked away before speaking again.

"It wasn’t me," Keith said after a moment, "it was Black. He found you.”

Shiro used his human hand to lift Keith’s chin and make him look to his eyes. Shiro’s eyes reflected something Keith couldn’t identify, something different from before the whole MIA mess; Something decisive.

"You were piloting Black," Shiro said confidently, "which means you share a connection with him. You both _found_ me. You both _saved_ me right before I died asphyxiated. And if there's someone I have to thank right now, that someone is _you_.”

With each word, Keith felt Shiro’s face approach more and more to his. The man exerted an inexplicable, almost gravitational force on Keith, like a gaseous giant attracting a moon that doesn’t stand the slightest chance to escape.

What would happen next was imminent, and one part of Keith really wanted it to happen at once. But the other...

Lance's smiling face appeared inside his head, blocking everything around him. Almost immediately, Keith pulled away from Shiro, barely keeping the man's lips from touching his own.

"Uh... I just... I think I'd better let you rest," Keith said, blurting the first thing that came to his mind. “Sure the others will want to know you woke up, so I should just go and—”

Keith tried to get up, but a strong pair of arms held him in place. And without anything as futile as a warning, a well-known mouth silenced any other words that might have come from Keith’s lips.

***

Lance paced back and forth inside his small bedroom. The viscous, multi-legged thing that had firmly settled itself at the pit of his stomach, had apparently decided it was as good a time as any to practice its tap-dance moves. He felt dizzy, breathless, and wanted to start running until he reached the next space quadrant.

Why the hell did he keep watching?

He felt like a complete idiot. A total, irrevocable, and massive idiot for having allowed himself to fuel some romantic hopes, that a certain reappearance of a certain man with a certain lock of silvery hair had just extinguished with a long-range firefighter hose.

Of course Lance was relieved Shiro was safe and sound. _Of course he was!_ The man was so prone to get himself captured by the enemy it was even ridiculous. And Lance hadn’t anything against him, really. Quite the opposite! He respected Shiro as a leader and as a person and even admired him for all his accomplishments as an explorer for Earth’s Galactic Garrison.

Then again, why on _space_ did Lance want to take Shiro from the collar of his suit and throw him straight to the nearest supernova? Because he was an idiot, that's why.

When Allura proposed them to keep an eye on Keith without him knowing it, Lance had to have known that no good thing could come out of that. The black paladin was so stubborn and protective - with Shiro, at least - he wouldn’t let anyone watch over Shiro apart from himself. Thus Allura allowed Hunk and Pidge to wire a cryo-pod inside Shiro's room, conveniently omitting the fact that cryo-pods have cameras that can be accessed from anywhere in the castle, if you know what is you’re doing.

Therefore, she let Keith stand watch for more than 30 vargas in a row in front of an unconscious Shiro. Because thanks to the hidden camera, her, Coran and the rest of the team could also take turns to big brother the hell out of self-pity town’s Mayor and Mister lost-and-found. It was the perfect plan, which allowed them to keep track of Shiro's progress and also take care of Keith without him bitching about it.

For the most part, they used the camera to make sure Keith at least ate and slept. When too many vargas had passed since the last time he’d been hydrated or fed, any of them could just drop by casually to give him juice, water or a snack.

However, from all the possible shifts in Pidge’s very random schedule, Lance had to be the one watching when Shiro woke up!

Lance was in his room, lying on the bed and watching through the floating screen just as Coran taught them how to. Keith had been sitting on the floor for about half a varga, not moving and probably taking a well-deserved nap. Suddenly he jolted, stared at the cryo-pod for a few doboshes and when it seemed he was going to fall asleep again, the pod opened up and Shiro almost fell on his face.

Any other intelligent being on the immense universe would have run to tell his buddies Shiro had just woken up. But Lance wasn’t any other.

Seeing them both like that, in a sort of romantic dance dip pose, made Lance felt paralyzed in the spot. He was hypnotized by what he saw, so focused and so eager to know what would happen next that he didn’t even attempt to close the floating screen.

He saw Shiro move his lips and Keith move his as well. Keith helped Shiro get to his bed, gave him a drink, lunged to hug him... If Lance had better survival instincts, he would probably have turned off the transmission before they kissed.

If Lance actually thought about it, Keith wanting to get back together with Shiro now that he had returned was only logical. His and Keith’s whatnot never had a label after all, and there was a chance it only served to fill the gap for what Keith and Shiro had. Lance had been a fool to even dare dreaming of something between him and the black paladin - or was he now the red paladin again? - had some kind of future.

Yeah, his _mind_ understood the situation completely. The real problem lay in how strongly his _heart_ wasn’t cooperating with the cause.

Lance hated to admit that what he felt for Keith was way past a mere physical desire. God damn! He had it so _bad_! Lance was so invested now that all he could think of was to accept his defeat, so he could see Keith happy together with the man he really wanted. Or at least Lance hoped that was the case. And he also hoped Shiro wanted Keith as badly as Lance did. _Damn_ , how complicated things were when Lance let himself be carried away by his silly emotions!

Lance’s bedroom door opened and Lance stopped mid-stride. It was Keith, with dark circles under his eyes and a grin on his face. A fucking _grin_ , no less! How many hours had Lance spent trying to make the fucker at least smile? But all Shiro had to do was to wake up and there went Keith’s face on a full grin mode on his stupid pretty face.

Keith walked up to Lance and tried to hug him, and Lance dodged without thinking about it, folding his arms to put some distance between them. Keith gave stared at him in puzzlement but didn’t try to hug him again.

"Shiro’s awake," he announced cheerfully. _Too_ cheerfully, in Lance's opinion. “He’s resting, but you can go see him whenever you feel like it.”

"Oh..."

Lance put on his best “I'm glad and surprised, and I'm a completely normal person who doesn’t spy on others with hidden cameras" face.

“I’m very glad to hear that,” Lance said instead. “Do we go together or you want me to tell the others?”

"They already know," Keith said, showing no sign of seeing through Lance’s façade. Either Lance was a very good actor or Keith didn’t have a clue. “It’s only you left.”

"Okay, great," Lance said, trying to inject positive emotion into his words. “I’ll... be there in a tick, okay?”

Lance turned his back on Keith, walking to his guardrobe and rummaging through one of his drawers in the hope he appeared busy enough. However, Keith didn’t seem willing to leave yet. Was he really so eager to shove his undying love for Shiro right in front of Lance’s face?

"I left you last on purpose, y’know?” Keith said behind him. “I wanna to talk to you about something.”

Lance felt his heart skipping a beat, the ground under his feet suddenly turning into quicksand. Was that how it all ended for them both?

“Yeah?” He asked, unable to turn to Keith. “What do you wanna talk about?”

“About… us.”

_Quiznak._

Okay. That was it. That was all and there wasn’t a turn back. The fat woman sang, the curtain fell, and Lance was being pushed off the theater by a bad-tempered concierge.

He didn’t even think things between would get to that point. One tiny part of Lance’s heart kind of expected the change to be more organic. Something like "if we don’t mention it, it didn’t happen and we forget about it". It seemed Lance’s luck always found ways to worsen.

"I don’t really think it's necessary," Lance said, in a desperate attempt to avoid _the_ _talk_. “Everything is just fine as it is.”

"No, it isn’t," Keith replied, placing a hand on Lance’s shoulder that sent a direct squeeze to the pit of his stomach. Lance’s intestinal parasite started to dance the samba, and just when had Keith gotten so close to him? “I've been a jerk lately, locked up inside myself and overthinking like crazy. I even shut _you_ out with no explanation. The least I can do now is try and apologize.”

Oh, so that was it, wasn’t it? To wash his hands from all guilt via heartfelt apology. To end things between them in the best way possible. Cut clean tights. Depart with a handshake. Lance felt like he was about to throw up his breakfast.

Despite the situation - and drawing strength from only God knew where - Lance managed to turn around and face Keith. The best, he told himself, was to get it over with as fast and clean as possible. Lance had already made up his mind and apparently, Keith had too. He took a deep breath before speaking again.

“Apology accepted, man, no worries,” he said to Keith, trying to stay as cool as possible. “You don’t have to explain yourself to _me_! I get it. You two are talking business this time around, and that’s cool, dude. Totally,” he finished the remark with a wink.

Keith's face was one of pure bewilderment. If Lance hadn’t been so sure the guy came to his room to break up with him, he could have found it amusing.

"Us two?" Keith asked. “Lance, what the—?”

"Oh, _come on_ , Keith! You’re not gonna make me spell it for you, yeah?” Lance was losing the little patience he had left. Keith could be thick at times, but he was the one who came to Lance’s bedroom just to finish whatever they had, so he could very well start acting accordingly. “You two, buddy. You and Shiro. The thing you two have going on. Your dirty little secret. The _sheith_ for the people. The fact that you and Shiro are more than just friends!”

Keith's eyes widened, as if he’d barely discovered what the conversation was about.

"You're wrong," He said. “Shiro and I aren’t—“

“What?” Lance interrupted abruptly. “Together forever? Having an affair? In a quiznaking relationship!? I just saw you two _kiss_ , for crying out loud! The _how_ is not important,” he clarified, so Keith wouldn’t be able to interrupt,” but after seeing what I saw it’s pretty much obvious to me that you two got back together. So _please_ don’t take me for a fool.”

Keith gasped like a fish out of the water, struggling to speak. Lance, on the other hand, wasn’t willing to lose control of the conversation. He kept on.

"Listen," he said, sounding more confident than he felt. “I get it, okay? You have history together and you surely want to pick up where you left before Shiro’s disappearance. And that's _fine_ by me. _For real_. Whatever you and I had was very interesting, yes. And the sex was quite awesome... But I do understand we never said anything about being exclusive. So if you now want to be with Shiro because the fucker returned from the fucking death, you can totally do it! Lancey Lance hops down that train and there’s nothing left to—”

Whatever Lance intended to say died on his lips when Keith pulled him by the waist to kiss him.

The kiss was as messy as one could expect. All lips, tongues, teeth, and Keith pulling Lance so tightly against his body he might as well have wanted for them to merge. When Lance thought it was about to end, Keith started it again, slowly draining all of Lance’s oxygen and making him feel lightheaded.

Lance’s head was spinning round and round when Keith finally decided it was enough torture for the moment.

"Don’t you ever shut up?" Keith asked, his lips only inches away from Lance’s. "I'm _not_ with Shiro," he said, stressing each word with a light kiss. “I _don’t_ plan to get back together with Shiro,” he insisted, forcing his hands under Lance's t-shirt and running them up and down his back. “And the only reason I came all the way here was to tell you how very fucking _much_ I plan to keep doing this with you.”

As if to prove his point, Keith kissed him again. He pulled at Lance’s t-shirt with determination, getting it off Lance’s body just in time for another heavy kiss. Lance felt both lost and horny, having the slight sensation he was missing something. Hadn’t they been fighting just a few ticks ago?

"But I saw you two kiss," Lance snapped, regaining some of his reason as Keith nibbled at the skin on his collarbone. “I saw you hug him... I saw...”

He heard Keith let out a growl, and the next thing he knew, the guy had lifted him up and threw him onto the bed, so easily that Lance wondered if being so lightheaded made him lighter.

Immediately, Keith lunged at him. He promptly stripped Lance from his jeans and underwear, and without losing a beat, he thrust Lance's cock into his mouth.

Keith sucked, licked, and open-mouth kissed Lance's semi-erection as if he was being possessed by a demon, moaning like giving him head was the most pleasurable thing in the whole wide world. Meanwhile, Lance was breathless, feeling his dick grow hard inside his lover’s expert mouth.

Lance lost sense of time; Doboshes or vargas could have passed by, in which Keith's mouth around him was the only thing that really mattered. He just let Keith have his way, stunned as he was at the sensations and emotions intertwined inside his chest. His hands had come to rest on Keith's head, and he felt them go down and up to the beat of the gorgeous man between his legs.

Suddenly, the wonderful blowjob ended, and the cool air of the room hit his saliva-wetted dick. Lance focused his gaze on Keith and excitedly noticed he’d only stopped to undress. Once naked, Keith straddled Lance’s legs, trapping his thighs and lining up his own erection with Lance's. He stroked gently at their cocks with both hands and started to rock up and down, the mere sensation getting the dirtiest sounds from Lance’s throat.

Keith movements were completely obscene, riding him as he probably would if Lance's cock was firmly stuck up his ass. For as much sex as they had before, such opportunity never presented itself. Not that any of them seemed to care, truly. Though hypnotized as he was by the sight in front of him, Lance couldn’t help but wonder if Keith would willingly take him, or whether he’d end up taking Keith instead.

The mere thought sent jolts of electricity to the base of Lance’s balls, where an orgasm was already forming. If there was anyone to blame for such a rushed performance, Lance blamed Keith's wonderful mouth and the way his buttocks were banging against the top of Lance’s thighs.

A few more doboshes of that and Keith leaned forward, rearranging his weight on Lance and leaving his ass exposed. The change of position was a clear invitation, one Lance hurried to comply.

He spanked Keith with all the strength he was capable of, receiving a bite on the neck in retribution. The combination of pain and pleasure greatly increased how close Lance was to his orgasm. He took a handful of his lover's firm buttocks, rocking his hips to follow Keith’s pace and his own urgency.

Not many ticks passed before Lance came all over his belly, with Keith following him almost immediately.

Lance decided to enjoy his post-orgasm with his eyes closed, refusing to move even as Keith stood up. He heard Keith go into the bathroom, turn the faucet on and off, and go out again. A moment later, Keith returned to the bed and threw something wet to Lance’s face, breaking his grand post-orgasmic concentration.

"If you dare falling asleep, I swear I'll give your neck a hickey the size of Saturn," Keith threatened, and Lance couldn’t help but chuckle.

"Can’t a man enjoy the bliss of how good it felt for him to cum?" he asked, wiping away the semen over his abdomen and not even bothering to open his eyes.

"A man can," Keith agreed. “What a man _can’t_ do is staying so calm after accusing his boyfriend of wanting to leave him.”

The word "boyfriend" caused Lance to open his eyes at once. Keith had never used it in Lance’s presence, at least not in that context. Lance leaned on his elbows to have a better sight of the naked man near him.

"I didn’t know I was your boyfriend," he admitted. “I thought you only saw me as a hookup.”

Keith rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, because hookups always hold hands under the dining-room table, right?" Keith blurted out, matter-of-factly. “You brag and say _you_ are the relationships expert and _I_ am thicker than a dwarf star, but here you are! Accusing me of getting together with Shiro when all I did was reject him.

Lance felt a pang of jealousy, the infamous kiss sneaking into his memory.

"You have a weird way to reject people," he snapped, too aware of the accusatory tone of his voice.

Keith let out a long sigh and sat up, resting his head on one hand. This let them both eye to eye on the mattress. Keith looked straight into Lance’s eyes and he felt a chill run through his entire body. Keith had never looked at him that way, with a strong gaze, as if everything he was about to say was the most absolute truth in the history of truths.

"Shiro and I did have something," Keith began. “Something spontaneous, which none of us planned. I always admired him, much more after we became paladins. And when it turned out he was also attracted to me, well... Let’s say I wasn’t upset. We usually met at night, always after a mission, as if the adrenaline drew us to one another like we were giant magnets. But things didn’t move forward from there, mainly because of Shiro.”

Lance listened intently, even though he felt something unpleasant and dark grow inside him at Shiro’s every mention. He wanted to talk, to interrupt, to ask! Nonetheless, he decided to use all his willpower in keeping himself quiet. If there was a moment of his life where he needed to be silent, this should be it.

"As for me, I wanted something more," Keith continued. “And I'm pretty certain Shiro knew my intentions. But he always refused. He said Voltron was more important and we couldn’t risk on compromising the mission. So whatever we had practically ended without even starting.”

"But I saw you kiss earlier," Lance said, unable to hold back any longer. “You hugged him and I thought...”

"I let myself go," Keith admitted, a guilty look on his face. “Shiro was missing for so long that having him around felt surreal. He kissed me, and I corresponded in autopilot, as a way to indulge my past self for one last time. I can't say I’m proud of it. But…”

“But?” Lance insisted. Keith let out a sigh.

“But when he asked me to stay, I just couldn’t do it,” he said simply.

“Why the fuck not?”

The question left Lance’s lips before he could think about whether he really wanted to hear an answer. The big worm inside his stomach made an inverted flip.

However, and against all odds, Keith smiled at him.

"Because of _you_ , you big buffoon,” Keith replied, causing Lance’s heart to skip a bit. “I'm with you now. I _want_ to be with you for days to come,” he emphasized, reaching out at Lance’s free hand. “That is, of course, if you’ll have me.”

Lance grinned at such a statement, like the silly lovebird he had just admitted he was. He drew Keith into him so he could kiss his silly stupid face, and Keith hurried to kiss him back.

They'd probably have to leave the room soon enough, unable to fulfill all the things the kiss promised. They both were Voltron's paladins and defenders of the innocent, after all, always willing to help those in need.

Either way, at that very moment nothing else mattered. Anything but the two of them, their kiss, and pretend they had all the time in the universe to enjoy it.

**FIN~**

**Author's Note:**

> My attempt at translating my own stories after several years. When you're a bit above average writing in Spanish and then try to do the same in English, let me tell you, it can DRIVE YOU INSANE. Either way, I _tried_ so I hope it turned out at least amusing. If you have any suggestions do please leave me a comment. Also, if you got here: THANKS A LOT!!
> 
> \--  
> Go yell at me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/theonemaye) and [tumblr](mayefromthefandom.tumblr.com)!


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